Stem Cells Flashcards
(164 cards)
Overall Question
Given the fact that newly fertilized eggs which come from somatic cells generate a zygote and the zygote is able to differentiate into any cell type – why can the zygote differenate into a human AND can we make a somatic cell into a zygote.
Stem cells + faith (stem cell ethics)
Question – Is OK to use hESCs fro stem cell thearapy
- A cathlic person would say no because they beleive that life begins at conception
Story (about wife)
12 years ago → his wife and him were sitting outside their house → RVB was going to give a presentation to university
During this time RVB was beginning to be interested in Stem Cells → thought Stem cells would be approved by the FDA in the near future – thought that stem cells derived from blastocyte would be approved
His wife said that this was controversial AND not ethical → his response was would you use it to save one of our daughters
Wife said it wasn’t ethical
Controversy with Embryonic stem cells
Controversy = Is a blastoctye a life?
***Answer to question depends on your religion + depends on what country you live in
Dr. Alfred Cioffi
Cathloic priest with 2 PhDs
–> He took a class with RVB – he said that the pope thinks that hESCs will soon be used for stem cell therapy –> the pope needed priests with a terminal degree –> Cioffi went to get his PhD so that he could make decisions on how the church should preach about hESCs
- He needed to learn about hESCs so that the church would be able to tell people what to think if them
- He got his PhD in molecular biology at the age of 54 from Purdue
Uses of Stem cells
There are multiple uses for stem cells:
1. Increased understanding of how diseases develop
2. Use Stem cells to find a cure for diseases
3. Test new drugs for saftey
4. Generate new stem cells to replaice or aid diseased or damaged cells
5. Research How certain cells develope into cancer
6. Regernative medicine – Includes Tissue engirneered constructs + developing organoids
7. Fix genetic diseases
8. Clean Meat industry
9. Tissue engineering
Uses Stem cells as a cure (Ex.)
- Use stem cells to grow an ear
- Use stem cells to help with joint pain –> stop inflammation at the joint
What is included in Regenerative medicine?
- Tissue engirneed constructs
- Developing organoids
Stem cells + Clean meat industry
Using Stem cells and turning them into muscle rather than killing animals
- There are a lot of people investing in this
- Need to be able to make them profitable
Overall – Take Tissue from cow –> Get stem cells from tissue –> Differenate stem cells into muscle fibers –> make meat
Stem cells in Space
Nasa = 3D printing Biology research make the journey back to earth abord SpaceX’s dragon (NASA funded) – BioFabrication Facility
Issue – tissue engineering on earth has limitations because of gravity
Solution: Do 3-D printing in space
Example – Capillaries = hard to make on earth because of gravity –> they are printing capillaries using 3-D printing in space
***Moving towards printing human organs in space – The BioFabrication Facility (BFF) attempts to take the first steps toward printing human organs and tissues in microgravity using ultra-fine layers of bioink that may be several times smaller than the width of a human hair. This research is part of a long-term plan to manufacture entire human organs in space using refined biological 3D printing techniques.
Issue will Stem cells on earth
There are many things that we can’t do with stem cells on earth because of gravity – The biological printing of the tiny comeplex structure found inside human organs has been proven difficult under earth’s gravity
- Under earth’s gravity an initial scaffolding or support structure is needed to form the desired shape of the tissue
Example – Making capillaries –> this is an issue because need to feed tissue engineered constructs with blood
Helping the heart + stem cells
The Engineered Heart Tissues study looks at how human heart tissue functions in space – It uses unique 3D tissues made from heart cells derived from human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSCs), essentially adult stem cells.
- Uses hiPSC – Looks at adult stem cells
- The engineered heart tissues = complex 3-D structures the size of a few grains of rice
- Tissues = more similar to issues in the i=body than flat cells in culture in a dish or in a flask
Overall – looking to see if making the engineered heart can be made better in space – is Tissue engineering better to be done in space because there is no gravity
***Heart made = VERY small
Stem cells + COVID
Usses stem cels to traet COVID – used Adult Meschymal Stem cells (AUTOLOGOUS)
- The MSCs = help the immune system by dampening the cytokin storm
- Using autologous adult adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells
- Providing immune support againt COVID
- They hope to limit disease progression and severity of covid – want to keep pateints out of the hospital and off ventilation
Bioformat FDA approved Phase II trail of Hope biosciences meschymal stem cells against covid
- Bioscineces = a clincal stage biotech company focused on developing cell based theraputucs for acute and chronic illness
Effect of adult meschymal Stem cells
They are immunomodulatory –> supress autoimmune disease
- They help hampen the cytokin storm
- Immunomodulatory + regenrative potential
Ex. Supress Rhumatoid Arthritus – in a recent clincal trial inflammation was reduced
What drives COVID disease progression
In COVID patients – inflammation is the driving force behind disease progression – it is critical to regulate the immune system as early as possible
- They are using stem cells in COVID pateints for their immunomodulatory effect –> It is hoped that the treatment will limit the progression and severity of COVID = keep them out of hospotal + off ventilation
Stem Cell
A cell that can either revew (divide) or differentate
***Which they do will depend on their niche
What controls the path a stem cell takes
The path the stem cell takes is controlled by the stem cell niche
***It is hard to know what controls stem cells in vivo
Stem cell niche
Includes Growth factors + ECM + enmvirnment
What affects the doublings in a stem cell
Influnced by:
1. The source (might depend on the age of the donor)
2. The type of stem cell
Example:
1. Adult stem cell (MSCs) – 50-100-200 doublings –> depends on the age of the donor (depends on the source)
- More like somatic cells
2. HESCs + iPSCs –> Immortal
Affect of patters of Stem Cell division
Different patterns of stem cell division creates a different proportion of cells and differentiated cells
Stem cell division
Stem cells can undergo asymetric divisions – one stem cell can me made into a new stem cell and one daughter cell becomes a differentiated cell
- Asymetric = means that the cell divides into two types of daughter cells
***This helps maintain the number of stem cells in the population
Some Stem cells can divide symetrically – done to increase the number of stem cells –> often done during development or during recovery from an injury
Some stem cells = can divide symetrically OR asymetrically –> one stem cell in the pool is diving symetricall and the other is not
Categories of stem cells
- Adult stem cells
- Fetal Stem cells
- Embryonic stem cells
- induced Pluripotent Stem cells
Adult stem cells
- Most popular are adipose (fat) derived mesenchymal stem cells (adMSCs)
- Now in more than 700 stem cell therapy trials globally
- Includes Adult Mesenchymal stem cells – most commonly used for stem cells in Stem cell therapy
- Can be Autologous
***In clinical trials
What are the most common cells used in Stem cell thearpy
Adult Mesenchymal Step cells – often derived from adipose tissue
***Cuurentley in clincal trials